Apple's 'F1' Wins Best Sound Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards

Apple's racing film "F1" won the Academy Award for Best Sound at the 98th Annual Oscars tonight. The victory caps a major awards run for the film, which also became the highest-grossing sports feature of all time before making its transition to streaming.



Directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the film was nominated for four Oscars in total, including Best Picture. The award is the latest in a long list of industry accolades for the production. Filmed using IMAX-certified digital cameras, the movie placed a heavy emphasis on capturing the authentic, visceral roar of the vehicles directly on real racing circuits.


Earlier this year, the feature secured Critics Choice Awards for both Best Editing and Best Sound. It also claimed a BAFTA for Best Sound and received honors from the Cinema Audio Society, Visual Effects Society, and the National Board of Review. The project also earned nominations from the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild of America, and SAG-AFTRA.

Starring Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes, the film follows a former racing phenom whose career was nearly ended by a devastating track accident in the 1990s. Thirty years later, Hayes is pulled back into Formula 1 by former teammate Ruben Cervantes, played by Javier Bardem, who is trying to save a struggling team on the brink of collapse. Now racing alongside rookie driver Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, Hayes must confront his past while navigating the pressures of modern Formula 1.

The film made its global streaming debut in December and serves as a major piece of Apple's expanding motorsport portfolio. The company recently took over as the exclusive U.S. home for live Formula 1 coverage, drawing record viewership for its inaugural broadcast of the Australian Grand Prix. Apple is also broadcasting select live races this season in IMAX theaters across the country.

Tonight's win adds to Apple's growing Oscar pedigree. The company previously made history in 2022 when "CODA" became the first film from a streaming service to win Best Picture. Apple also won an Academy Award for the animated short "The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse" in 2023 and earned multiple nominations for Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" in 2024.